1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relates to power generation systems with simultaneous production of electrical power and heat.
More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relates to power generation system that simultaneously produce electric power and heat, where the system includes a heat conversion subsystem HCSS, a vaporization subsystem VSS, a heat exchange and separation subsystem HESS, a heat transfer and separation subsystem HTSS, a heat utilization subsystem HUSS and a condensation subsystem CSS. The HUSS can be any subsystem that can utilized waste heat such as a factory, an refinery, an office building for heating, heating for homes, cities, towns, subdivisions or any other subsystem that can utilize a ready heat source of a low to moderate temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,708, and 5,572,871, power systems were presented that were designed to serve as bottoming cycles for combined cycle systems. These systems both had a specific feature which was the key to their high efficiency; both systems used intercooling of the working fluid in between turbine stages. Because the heat released during intercooling was recuperated, it was then used as an additional source of heating for the process of vaporization. This resulted in a drastic increase in the thermodynamical reversibility and correspondingly in higher efficiency of the power cycle.
However, in the prior art, this process of intercooling was performed in a special heat exchanger, a so-called “intercooler.” Such an intercooler requires that the streams of working fluid in both the tubes and the shell of the intercooler be at high pressure. Moreover, the intercooled stream in the prior art is in the form of a vapor, and therefore the heat transfer coefficient from the vapor to the intercooler tubes is low. As a result, such an intercooler must be a very large and very expensive high pressure heat exchanger. This in turn has a very negative impact on the economics of the entire system.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system designed to utilize high to medium temperatures sources in small to medium power plants to co-generate electrical power or other useable form of energy and heat for heating an external heat absorber stream, where the external heat absorber stream can be used to heat streams in other process or to heat towns, cities, offices, factories or the like.